EncroChat: The Secret Criminal Network Unveiled

[00:00:13] Welcome back to Crime Time Inc.

[00:00:44] Ever heard of EncroChat? Sounds like some kind of, I don't know, chat room. Well, not exactly. It was a secret network used by criminals. A secret network. Wow. Yeah. Worldwide, actually. They thought it was totally secure. Hmm. So like a, what, a criminals only club? Yeah, you could say that. And it is designed specifically for their activities, you know? Oh, so like how? Well, it had all these features, you know, guaranteeing anonymity and security. Like they could send self-destructing messages.

[00:01:11] Self-destructing, like in the spy movies. Kind of, yeah. They even had this panic button. A panic button! If they thought they were going to get caught, you know, they hit the button and poof, everything on the phone was gone. Wow. That's pretty high tech. And to make it even harder to trace them, there were no SIM cards involved. No SIM cards. So how did they even, I don't know, how did it even work? It's pretty complicated. But the bottom line is, it was really hard to track these guys. So it attracted some serious players.

[00:01:41] Serious? You mean like, um... Well, a six-month contract cost you 1500 pounds. Oof. That's a pretty steep price. Yeah. It was like a, almost like a barrier to entry. You know, only the big guys could afford it. So this gave them, what, a sense of like, invincibility. Exactly. They thought they were untouchable. And because of that, their messages, they got, well, pretty detailed. You mean like, they were just giving away all their secrets?

[00:02:08] Basically. It's almost like they were documenting their crimes, never thinking anyone would ever actually see them. And for a while they were right. But then, in 2020, boom, everything changed. 2020? What happened? The authorities managed to hack into AnchorChat. Can you imagine? These guys, used to operating in the shadows, and suddenly all their secrets are out in the open? Yeah, that must have caused quite a panic. Absolutely. A shockwave through the whole criminal world. So how do you hack into something that's supposed to be like, unhackable? Right. It sounds impossible.

[00:02:38] Well, what they did was they replaced the AnchorChat's update service. Update service. Yeah. With a compromised one. So when these guys thought they were just getting a routine update, they were actually downloading malware. Sneaky. Yeah. It was pretty ingenious. Gave them access to, well, everything. Messages, photos, locations, you name it. Wow. So the authorities had a front row seat to the whole criminal operation. Exactly. They could see everything that was going on. But of course, you know, this whole thing raised some legal questions. Oh, I bet.

[00:03:07] Like, was it even legal? Does it count as interception or equipment interference under the UK Investigatory Powers Act? That's getting pretty technical. It is. And the courts are still trying to figure it all out. But in the meantime, let's talk about what they actually found. Okay. So they've hacked into this network. What did they actually see? What was going on? Well, it was everything you might expect. Drug trafficking, money laundering, violence, intimidation, you name it. It was all there.

[00:03:36] So they weren't just, you know, chatting about the weather. Oh, no. These messages painted a very vivid picture of what was going on in the criminal world. Like how vivid? Give me an example. Well, they'd be talking about drug deals. And I don't just mean, hey, I get some drugs. We're talking specific types of drugs, quantities, prices. They even talked about the branding and packaging they'd use for shipments. Right. Oh, yeah. It was all out in the open. And money laundering, too. They were moving huge sums

[00:04:05] of money around. And they talked about their schemes in detail. Sounds like they got a little too comfortable. They did. The anonymity made them overconfident. So it's all fun and games? Mm-hmm. Until someone's reading your mail, huh? And you mentioned violence and intimidation. What did they find about that? Well, there are threats to life, a lot of them. They called them TTLs in the messages. And then there was this one case. They found a torture chamber. A torture chamber.

[00:04:31] Yeah. It was inside a shipping container. And they only found it because of these Encro chat messages. Wow. It's kind of hard to believe stuff like that actually exists. It's a reminder that behind all the anonymity, real people are getting hurt. So you've got this massive breach, all this evidence, and the authorities are seeing just how these criminal networks really work. What happened next? Well, law enforcement agencies all over Europe, they swung into action. Thousands of arrests.

[00:04:59] Yes. Millions of euros seized. It was a huge blow to organized crime. So what did the criminals do? Did they just give up? Not exactly. They had to adapt. They had to find new ways to communicate, you know, because their old ways were compromised. So they got more careful. A lot more careful and a lot more paranoid. I bet. Trust must have been a big issue after this. Oh, absolutely. The whole landscape of organized crime changed overnight. It's amazing how one event could cause such a massive shift.

[00:05:27] But I'm curious, with all this evidence, how do they actually use it to, you know, catch these guys? The anchor chat messages were like a roadmap. Investigators could connect the dots, figure out who the key players were, and build their cases. So these messages, meant to stay secret, ended up being their downfall. Exactly. It's pretty ironic when you think about it. And the legal challenges, those are pretty interesting too. Oh yeah. What's the problem? They got all these messages. Seems pretty open and shut.

[00:05:56] Well, the defense is saying using these messages in court, it's not that simple. Why not? They're saying capturing these messages, you know, even if it's just briefly on the phone, that counts as interception. Interception. Yeah. And under UK law, that's inadvisable. Huh. Seems like kind of a technicality. It all comes down to how that French implant worked. Was it grabbing stuff from storage or like intercepting the messages as they were being sent? Ooh, that's getting pretty technical.

[00:06:26] Definitely a question for the tech experts, not me. So what, they're saying they can't even challenge the evidence because they don't know exactly how it was collected. Yeah, they're saying they need, you know, full transparency. I could see that. They want access to like the infected phones, the source code of the implant, all that. To prove it was done right, huh? Exactly. So did they get it. There have been some concessions in one case. Yeah, the lawyers got to see some technical stuff, even got a test phone, but not the source code. I figured there had to be a catch.

[00:06:54] The judge said, you know, national security, ongoing investigations, all that. Yeah, it can't be giving away all the secrets. Exactly. But did it help the defense, you know, even with this limited access? Well, not really. There was this cybersecurity firm in VASIS from the Czech Republic. They analyzed the evidence. They said, look, without the source code, there's no way to tell for sure if the messages were grabbed from storage or during transmission. So back to square one. It's complicated. That's for sure. High stakes, though.

[00:07:22] But then the European Court of Justice, they weighed in. Oh, wow. The big guns. It was a case in Germany, actually. Police wanted to get EncroChat data that was stored on a Europol server. What did they say? The ECJ said the German request was legal. So they basically said the hack itself, you know, whether that was legal or not, they didn't touch that. They were more focused on, you know, was it OK for EU countries to share this kind of information? Ah.

[00:07:49] But they did emphasize, you know, protecting individual rights is still important. Of course. Yeah. So a win for law enforcement, but not a total one. And in the meantime, the authorities are digging through all these messages. Oh, yeah. Tons of stuff coming out. The detail in these messages. It's amazing. Like this guy, Peter Moran. Who was he? He was a middleman in a drug operation. His messages. They had everything. Pictures of the drugs. Details about the deal. Like an online drug market. Yeah, pretty much. He was even bragging about how much money he was making.

[00:08:19] So did they catch him with a big stash of drugs? Not exactly. But his messages. They led the authorities right to his house. Found 14,000 pounds in cash hidden under his oven. Not the best hiding spot. Nope. Faced with all this evidence, Moran confessed to a bunch of charges. Conspiracy to supply drugs, money laundering, the whole nine years. And the mess. He got six years and eight months in prison. Wow. His story, it shows just how powerful these Anchor Chat messages are.

[00:08:49] A real window into the criminal world. Exactly. And it makes you think about privacy, security, how far we're willing to go to stop these guys. Big questions for sure. Definitely a debate that's going to keep going, especially as technology keeps changing. So what about the big gangs? I bet Anchor Chat took down some big players. Oh, yeah. Take the Hewton firm, for example. They were a nasty bunch out of Liverpool. Drugs, violence, the whole bit. They must have thought they were untouchable. Yeah.

[00:09:17] Well, their messages told a different story. They were talking about drug deals, planning hits on their rivals, even bragging about what they'd done. I can't imagine that's going to hold up in court. With all that evidence, they didn't stand a chance. A lot of them pleaded guilty, ended up with some long sentences. So Anchor Chat really shook up the UK underworld. Absolutely. But these guys are adaptable. They're already finding new ways to stay under the radar. It's like a game of whack-a-mole. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. So what did we learn from all this?

[00:09:47] Well, it shows just how important technology is in this fight against crime. On both sides. The criminals are using it, but so are the authorities. So will we see more hacks like this in the future? That's the big question, isn't it? Some people say it's a step too far, you know, invading people's privacy. Yeah, stuff one. It is. But it's a debate we need to have. Technology is changing everything, and we need to figure out where the lines are. The Anchor Chat story, it's a wake-up call.

[00:10:16] Even the most secure systems, they can be broken. And the choices we make about privacy and security, they have consequences. Yeah, it really makes you think, doesn't it? I mean, we all think our online stuff is private, but is it really? It's a good question, especially after Anchor Chat. Right. Like, okay, these were criminals, but where's the line? And those legal battles are still going on, which makes it even more interesting. Oh, right. You mentioned those. What are they arguing about now? Jurisdiction is a big one.

[00:10:45] You know, the French and Dutch did the hack, but they're using the evidence all over Europe. So it's like, are they allowed to do that? That's what they're trying to figure out. Is it legal to use evidence from one country and another? Complicated. Placed with the whole privacy thing. Exactly. Is it okay for law enforcement to hack into people's stuff, even if they are criminals? It's a tough call. I mean, you want to stop these guys, but you can't just ignore everyone's rights. Definitely a balancing act.

[00:11:13] And these court cases, they're going to set some big precedents for how we do investigations in the future. So it's about more than just EncroChat, huh? Oh, yeah. This could change everything. Like how? What if the courts say the EncroChat evidence is no good? Well, then what happens to all the people they've already convicted? Could be overturned. They could all go free. And it could make it much harder to prosecute these kinds of cases going forward. Wow. So criminals are watching this closely, I bet. Absolutely. This could be a huge win for them.

[00:11:42] It's kind of scary when you think about it. This whole thing, I mean, it's a real eye-opener. All this stuff happening in the shadows. It is. And the fact that it's still unfolding, legally speaking, that makes it even more fascinating. This is a really interesting case for Simon and Tom to talk about tomorrow in their weekly review. But in the meantime, we'll be back on Monday for another great true crime episode.

[00:12:09] Tom, I think these daily episodes are a game changer for us. I'm really enjoying it. They are, Simon. And there's a lot more to come. Looking forward to it. Tune in tomorrow for another exciting true crime episode.